


The Devil Be Blind

by GrumblingGeek



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-02 03:59:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5233202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumblingGeek/pseuds/GrumblingGeek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie, an aspiring photojournalist, is rescued one night by a masked stranger and tossed into a world she never knew existed (or really wanted to be a part of) only to realize that telling the truth isn't always as easy as it sounds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stapleton

**Author's Note:**

> Can also be found on fanfiction.net

Charlie was late.

Charlie was always late.

She sprinted out of the subway tunnel and whirled around at street corner trying to gather her bearings. Where the hell am I? She focused on a sign hanging above an old grocery store that read:

Jacob's Hell's Kitchen's Number One Stop for Fresh Produce

Charlie glanced in the window at the flies that buzzed over Jacob's 'fresh' produce.

"Fresh produce my ass," she muttered as she whipped out her phone to bring up Google Maps. Judging by the map, she should be near the building where the interview to determine the rest of her future was to be held. And she would be late. Of course.

She scurried across the street in the general direction of where the map had indicated while trying to ruthlessly calm her unruly hair into some semblance of a ponytail.

"Stop, misbehaving. I grew you. Don't be so ungrateful." She whispered to herself as she rounded a corner and stopped dead in her tracks.

There it was.

Stapleton's Newspaper.

Only the best the city had to offer in undercover journalism and what Charlie hoped would kick start her career into the world of photojournalism.

Or you know, reject her for being late to her interview and kick her to the curb to live out the rest of her life as a starving artist begging for scraps outside of Greenwich Village.

I mean, whatever works.

Charlie glanced at her phone: 6:39. Shit.

The interview was supposed to start at 6:30. She pulled open the heavy glass doors and practically ran to the receptionists desk not even stopping to enjoy the beautiful interior of the classic brick building.

"Hi, umm, Hello, Charlotte Evedyn. I'm here for an interview with a-" She rummaged through her messenger back and pulled out a scrap of paper. "-a Mr. Renner?" She hoped her face wasn't too flushed from the wind and the New York winter but she assumed she probably resembled a mad woman fighting for her sanity. The receptionist glanced over her large framed glasses and raised a pristine eyebrow.

"You're late."

"I know. And I am very sorry. I'm new to the city and it was much harder to navi-"

"Upstairs. 8th floor. Take two lefts and walk down the skyhall. His room is the 4th on the right."

"Yes, of course, thank you!" Charlie sped to the closest elevator and pressed a rather large button for the 8th floor. Elevator music began to play. It was horrendous. She took this opportunity to glance at the reflective walls to take in what she assumed was a messy and windswept version of the outfit she most meticulously put together earlier that day. Her high-waisted black dress pants had cat hair scattered throughout and the blue blouse she had thrown on was wrinkled and limp. Her thick and curly mahogany hair was frizzing from the humidity on the city streets and was sticking up in places it really should have behaved. Her pale skin made her grey blue eyes stand out amidst a sea of freckles splattered across her nose and cheekbones. The only makeup she had bothered to put on was mascara and some light pink lipstick that she hoped was improving her rushed appearance instead of looking like she was a ghost.

The elevator reached the 8th floor all too quick and Charlie sighed. Here goes nothing.

She walked to Mr. Renner's office with what she hoped was a portraying confident posture and not the bundle of nerves she felt in her stomach. She took a deep breath and rapped three times on his door and heard the crisp "Come in."

His office was large with a view of a street that allowed her to see a bit of the Manhattan skyline. The sun was already setting and she knew the temperature would be steadily dropping. It was going to be a cold December, definitely not like the ones she was used to in North Carolina.

Mr. Renner himself looked to be a man in his mid sixties with a gentle smile and a well groomed suit. His circle glasses gave him the look of a wise owl and his blue eyes crinkled when he saw Charlie stumble a bit in her unfamiliar heels.

"Ah, you must be Miss. Evedyn?" His voice was friendly as she straightened herself, recovering from her stumble and approached him with an outstretched hand.

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry I'm late. I promise I'm not usually late." Only a white lie. Charlie barely ever made it somewhere on time. It was a fatal flaw.

Mr. Renner took her hand firmly in his own and gave it a brisk shake.

"It's fine, you're not that late. Did you bring a portfolio?"

"Of course!" She pulled a black folder from her messenger back and set it on his desk.

"Please, sit, Miss. Evedyn."

As Charlie took a seat in a dark leather chair she studied Mr. Renner's face as he sifted through her life's work. Years of photography schooling and thousands of dollar later Charlie had graduated from a prestigious art school in North Carolina and taken a leap of faith when she hopped on a train to New York city hoping to kick start a career in photojournalism somewhere where the news actually relayed the truth. After hours of research she discovered that Stapleton's was one of the few companies in the city that actually worked to get accurate and timely stories out to their readers. It seemed to be a great place to start on her journey that would hopefully end with her running her own company one day.

"I'm impressed. These are extraordinary. I've never seen pictures this detailed. You must tell me how you got access to the Mattherhorn Estate? I thought it was banned from the press?"

Charlie felt her face go red.

"It was, I umm, acquired access to the facility and once I was inside it was fairly easy to get where I needed to go. They put all of their focus on the barriers, there really wasn't much security inside." She hoped he didn't ask her to elaborate on her knowledge of fortresses. That was a conversation not meant for her first interview.

"Acquired?"

"Yeah, I did a lot of rock climbing and parkour when I was in college. It just kinda-" Charlie waved her hand in the air, "- came to me." She let out a nervous smile, hoping he wouldn't think to much about her means to an end.

"Ah, I see. Well, sometimes you have to get your hands a bit dirty to get to the truth. You've impressed me, Miss. Evedyn. I would like to see how you work with my team. We have assembled some of the most talented journalists and photographers from different backgrounds and ambitions and I think you would fit perfectly. When can you start?"

Charlie's mouth dropped open. She quickly closed it and shook her head a moment.

"Anytime. Tomorrow. Tonight. I have no plans." She blurted before her mind had time to tell her to shut up.

Mr. Renner chuckled.

"Well, Miss. Evedyn-"

"Charlie." she interrupted. " You, er, can call me Charlie."

"Well, Charlie. I will see you here tomorrow, 9am. Sharp." He raised his eyebrow as if to challenge her to be late again. Hell no , she thought. Tomorrow begins the first day of the rest of my life.


	2. The Alley

_Rrrring._

_Rrrrring._

_Rrrrrrring._

"Hello?" A female voice answered the call and Charlie grinned as she hurried along the city streets on her way home from the interview.

"Gen, you are never gonna believe it, I got the job!" Charlie screamed into the receiver. She could picture Genevieve sitting on their couch at home holding the phone away from her ear and scowling. Something she did often when Charlie was around.

"How? You can't even adult right."

"Hey! I only put wax paper in the oven that one time." Charlie was not about to let Gen's attitude bring her down. This was it. This was her big break.

"Reeeowww-"

"Is that Jabberwocky? Does he miss his mommy, put him on the phone the little baby-" Charlie's voice had taken on a high-pitched baby squeal as she attempted to communicate to Jabber on the other side of the line but Gen was having none of that.

"Charlie, if you do not desist from whispering sweet nothings to our cat I will stab you in the eye." Ah, Genevieve. A star model for the perfect roommate.

"Well, anywho, I should be home shortly, do you need anything from the store?" Charlie was a few blocks from the apartment yet she was enjoying the crisp night air and had no intentions of going straight home yet. At least not unless she was armed with pastries and alcohol to pacify Genevieve's horrendous attitude.

"Nah, Finn brought over some cupcakes earlier in a desperate attempt for me to get back together with him. I proceeded to tell him off about his awful habits and ungodly smell before kicking him out of the apartment. Kept the cupcakes though. That shit is good." Charlie could almost hear Gen's smirk at the fact that she had outwitted yet another member of the male species with her startling good looks and charm. The sound of a scream echoed in the background and Charlie groaned.

"Are you watching Criminal Minds again?"

"Yeah they're helping me find good places to dispose of your body if you keep shaving your legs in the sink."

"Don't hate." Charlie rounded the last curb towards home and approached the alley that she typically took to get home faster. It was darker than usual tonight because one of the lamps had flickered out for the last time.

"Look, Gen, I gotta go I'm almost home. Can you boil some water for some potatoes?"

"I am not contributing to your potato addiction."

"Ah, ah, ah. It's not an addiction. It's a lifestyle."

Genevieve hung up the phone.

The wind whipped around Charlie and she pulled her coat tighter around her. Usually, a dark alley would seem like a bad idea but Charlie was so ecstatic about being able to pay the bills that she figured she would be fine. It wasn't until she was halfway through the alley that she noticed the men following her.

There was three of them. All clad in black with ski masks drawn over their heads. That would be your first clue right? Charlie pretended not to notice and quickened her pace keeping her eyes on the lit street just barely out of her reach. If she didn't show fear, perhaps the men wouldn't speed up to chase her. Perhaps they'd let her go.

She was wrong.

By the time the first man broke out into a run, Charlie dropped her bag and sprinted towards the light. A part of her was hoping that he would abandon the chase and go straight for her bag but clearly this man wasn't after any money.

He wanted her.

Despite years of parkour, Charlie was not fast enough to outrun a grown adult male. He lunged for her and grabbed her around the waist tackling her to the ground with a grunt. His hand was over her mouth before she had time to react and he flipped her over onto her back, straddling her over her hips to keep her pinned to the ground. The other two men ran to catch up patting the first man on the back congratulating him for snatching her.

"The boss is gonna be happy we caught 'er so easily. We can finish this thing before it gets started. Jones, phone the others. Let them know we got 'er." One of the man standing announced as we leaned down towards Charlie's face until she could smell his rank breath on her cheek.

"Well, ain't you a pretty one?"

"Think we can have some fun with her before they show up?" The man straddling Charlie let his eyes wander down from her face and rest on her breasts which were showing a little more than they should through her lowcut blouse. _Oh hell no_ , Charlie thought, _I'd die first_.

But clearly she didn't have much of a say. Despite her thrashing around the man on top of her began unzipping his pants while the others claimed that they would stand guard. When Charlie nailed him once in the face with her fist she received a harsh blow to the head that sent her spinning and he pinned her arms as he lifted himself off her and put himself into position. Charlie thrusted upward as hard as she could when the weight left her hips and screamed at the top of her lungs when he released her mouth to hold her down. The warranted her another hard hit to the head and the tying of a dirty rag around her mouth to keep her from screaming. Clearly he saw that she wasn't going to make this easy for him and he lifted her up and tied her hands over her head and to a fire escape ladder from one of the buildings. The knots dug into her wrists and she bit back a sob. _I will not cry_ , Charlie thought, _he will not get that satisfaction._ She glared at him as he pulled down first her pants, then his own.

"I would say that this won't hurt, sweetheart, but it will." He whispered into her ear, his breath stank of eggs and Charlie gagged. If she had the ability to spit on him, she would. Instead she settled for glaring and wiggling around so it was harder for him to get a good grip on her.

"Stop moving." He grunted as he finally pinned her against the wall. Despite herself Charlie's eyes wandered down to his boxers to find a hard lump against the front. She felt nauseous and it wasn't from the blow to the head. The man had began to work his way between her thighs and was working his hand up to her panties when there was a shout from one of the other two men and Charlie looked up to see him running towards them from the other side of the alley.

"Hank! Get out of there! Run! He's here! He's found us!" The man was frantic, waving his arms over his head. The man who was currently groping her butt- Hank- turned to look at the runner and that was all Charlie needed. She thrusted upward with all her strength nailing him in the groin and when he doubled over she kneed him in the face. He crumbled forward clutching his nose and yelling.

"Damn, bitch!" He straightened up and raised his fist to hit her when a black blur shot down from the roof and landed on his back. Charlie struggled to get the weight off her arms by standing on her tip toes but there was no way she could free her hands from the bonds. The man in black quickly took out Hank and began to chase down the other men. One pulled a gun but he quickly disabled him and drop kicked him in the face, rendering him unconscious. The last man tried to make a run for it but the man in black had him down in a matter of seconds. Finally, he turned his attention to Charlie.

The alley was silent except for the typical city noises of sirens and shouting as the man approached her. She was suddenly all too aware of the vulnerable position she was in and felt her body tense. If it came to a fight, she would give it her best shot. As he got closer she saw he had a hat pulled down over his eyes and was wearing a simple long sleeved black shirt and pants. How the hell does he see with that on? Charlie wondered as he came to a stop directly before her. Charlie put what she hoped was a threatening glare in her eyes as she stared him down. How he would see that with his eyes covered, she had no idea. But it was the thought that counts.

He tilted his head at her before reaching up and loosening the bonds on her hands. Instead of letting go he wrapped his large hands around her wrist and helped her lower her arms which were sore from being tied so tightly. Once her hands were down he worked on the rag around her mouth until it slipped off and fell to the ground. Charlie bent to pick up her pants and let out a groan. Her head hurt like a bitch.

"Are you alright?" The man spoke in a deep, gruff voice. It wasn't a threatening question but it was one Charlie didn't really want to answer. She didn't really want to talk at all. Or try to comprehend what had just happened. She just wanted to get home.

"Define alright." She hadn't meant for it to come out so sharply but she turned away from him as she shifted back into her pants and zipped them up. She was still on edge with him nearby. She hadn't decided if he was a threat or not yet.

He chuckled at her abruptness and backed up a step as if she had threatened him. She turned to face him. He was tall in stature and lean. Muscular, but not overly. He had a nice smile, but men with nice smiles were the least of her worries right now.

"Thanks." Charlie muttered. "For helping me. And stuff. Thanks."

He smiled again. "Do you want me to walk you home?"

Charlie raised an eyebrow. Yes, let's let the suspicious man with a hat pulled down over his eyes walk her to her cheap apartment on the outskirts of Hell's Kitchen. That would be sure to give Genevieve a heart attack.

"Thanks for the offer but I really should be fine. Once I get to the main road it's a straight shot." She didn't want to be alone again in the city but she wasn't sure she could trust this man and she wasn't sure she could stand for much longer. She could feel her legs shaking from her adrenaline dying down and her head was pounding. "What's your name if you don't mind me asking? That way I can have a name for the wild story I will be spinning when my head clears up tomorrow morning."

The man smirked. "I think that would defeat the purpose of the mask."

"Touche. Well, peace out then." Charlie backed away from him towards the alley exit holding a peace sign as if she was a middle schooler saying bye to some friends after a long day and not a woman who had barely escaped being raped. _Smooth Charlie_ , she though, _real smooth._


	3. Stress Eating

Charlie unlocked her front door and slid into her apartment closing the door behind her and leaning against it. She could her the voice of Spencer Reid discussing something scientific and confusing on the television as she slumped down to the ground and hugged her knees. Jabber ran up to her purring and rubbing himself all over her legs shedding long grey cat hair on her already ruined black pants.

"Hey, buddy," she murmured rubbing under his chin just like he liked it. "Did you have a nice day watching peasants from the window?" Jabber meowed in response and continued purring.

"Charlie? Is that you?" Gen walked down their narrow hallway holding a cupcake and licking the icing. Her chin length ginger hair bounced as she crouched down until she was eye level with Charlie. She stuck her pinky in the icing and wiped it on Charlie's nose.

"You look terrible," she stated.

Charlie smiled. " Nice to see you too, Gen."

"What the hell happened?" Charlie quickly recounted the night's events and watched as Gen sat back to let it all soak in. Minutes passed after Charlie finished before Gen finally spoke.

"We should probably get your head checked out. Just to be sure it's not serious."

"It's fine. I think I just need to relax."

"You're lucky that dude was there. Otherwise it would have been much worse. His timing sure was fantastic. Interesting." Gen crinkled her nose. Always the pessimist, she rarely accepted an act of goodness without waiting to see the reason behind it. Charlie nodded limply. She remembered is cool hands relieving her burning wrists from the rope and the chuckle he released at her persistent questions. He definitely seemed too calm about the entire situation . Like he knew something she didn't about. Interesting indeed.

Gen stood up licking the remaining frosting from her fingers and offered a hand to Charlie who was still sitting against the front door.

"Come on, I bought some brownie mix if you wanna help me whip it up. To celebrate your new job. And you still living. That too, of course."

Charlie lifted her brow and grabbed onto Gen's outstretched hand. "Didn't you just eat several desperation cupcakes?"

"I won't judge your poor diet choices if you don't judge mine, potato girl."

A few hours later Charlie and Genevieve sat curled up on the couch together watching reruns of America's Next Top Model munching on an array of potatoes, brownies, and desperation cupcakes.

"Was he hot?" Gen asked, out of the blue.

"Who? Masked man?"

"Yeah."

"Did I mention he was wearing a mask? Because he was. That kinda makes it hard to determine if he was attractive or not. Plus I had just undergone a rather tramatic experience. So there's that." Charlie shoved some potatoes in her mouth. They comforted her like no one else could. True best friends.

"I mean, I don't know, it's kinda hot. He rescues you all damsel in distress like and-"

"I am not a damsel in distress."

"Well, you kinda were." Gen shakes her head, her red bob bouncing around her emerald green eyes.

"I'm just saying that it's like it was out of a movie or something. At least you weren't seriously hurt." Charlie considered what she was saying. Sure, the experience was horrifying and if she could go back in time and avoid it, she would. But this strange masked man stood out in her mind. She had so many questions and she wasn't sure she would ever get answers. Not to mention that the men who attacked her seemed to be fulfilling some mysterious orders. That was freaky.

Jabber hopped up in between the women and meowed loudly to make sure he had properly announced his presence. Gen scratched his head and sighed.

"Everything happens for a reason, Charlie."

Eventually, Gen crawled off to bed and Charlie was left alone with her thoughts and a very fluffy cat. She had curled up on their balcony overlooking Manhattan with Jabber asleep on her lap. Sleeping would have been hard enough with the excitement of a new job lurking over her but that combined with what she had experienced that night made for bad dreams and cold sweats.

She found her mind wandering to the mysterious masked man and what he was doing. Was he home with his family? Asleep? Or still out there saving lives and fighting crime? She supposed it didn't matter. Charlie had no intention of ever seeing him again and she had worse things to think about. Like how the hell she was supposed to get through her first day of work with no sleep and a possible concussion. She sat stroking Jabber until the first hint of light began to touch the city and she watched it begin to stir.

The city never slept, not really, but there was something about the morning that made everything seem more magical. Like the new day was bringing adventure and opportunity to anyone willing to chase it.

And today this applied especially to Charlie.


	4. Patch

Charlie's first day at Stapleton's was nothing like she imagined it. She arrived to work at a fashionable time of 9:03 am and was put straight to work with perhaps the strangest group of people she had ever met. Renner assigned her to work on the breaking news team. It was the smallest section of the company since they primarily focused on politics and large scale crime.

The team was tiny, only about seven people including her. It included three high-strung reporters, another photographer, and two dorky writers who did each others editing. The reporters, two girls and an extremely flamboyant gay man named Lucas argued over what stories they wanted by the grand window overlooking the city. The writers, Sarah and Drew had their heads bent over a story that was just released by their rival company and the photographer, Daniel, fiddled with his camera in the corner. They greeted Charlie with open arms and introduced her to her duties and responsibilities as a Stapleton's photojournalist. The day flew by and soon came to an end. Charlie prolonged leaving for as long as possible as it grew darker by the minute.

She wasn't ready to walk home again.

Gen had offered to walk over and pick her up since they didn't own a car but that meant she had to take the night off from her job at the gallery and Charlie didn't want her to miss work. They were short enough on cash as it was. Besides, the walk wasn't that long and she would stay on the main roads. It would be a pinch longer to get home but Charlie had no intentions of stepping foot in that alley ever again. Or any alley, for that matter.

She grabbed her scarf and coat and said farewell to her new coworkers as she finally left the office. It was colder than it had been that morning and she drew the coat tighter around herself to try and keep in body heat. Her breath escaped her lips and steamed up to the sky reminding her of how she used to pretend she was a dragon as a child and chase her brother around the yard. Man, how times changed.

The streets had already cleared out due to her procrastination at leaving the office and she found herself jumping at every strange noise. She could have called a cab or taken a subway but she desperately needed to save her money. Every penny counted.

Suddenly, a van pulled to a stop beside her on the empty road and the person in the passenger seat rolled down the window. It was one of those black pedophile vans parents warn their kids to avoid from a young age but it looked like it was in nice shape. There were no windows except for the ones in the front and Charlie instinctively backed up.

"Umm, excuse me Miss, do you happen to know how to get to the Empire state building from here? We appear to be dreadfully lost." The man lilted in a smooth British accent.

Charlie stared at him blankly and when she realized what she was doing she cleared her throat. "Ahem, sorry. I, uh, I'm new to the area, sorry I couldn't tell you." She smiled feebly.

"Ah, well, that's too bad. . . Get 'er boys." The words had barely escaped his mouth when two men jumped out of the back of the van and ran towards her. She didn't even have time to comprehend what was happening before the first one picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. Charlie felt herself go into attack mode and she began to kick and scream with every ounce of strength she had as the man threw her into the back of the van and got in behind her. He immediately flipped her onto her belly twisting her arms painfully behind her back and binding them with a coil of rope. Her wrists burned from yesterday's attack and were soon raw again. She could feel blood trickling down her hands.

The other man hopped into the van, pulling the doors shut behind him. The van lurched back onto the road as the first man tied a gag around Charlie's mouth and quickly bound her legs together at the ankles.

"Now, that's how you get a job done." The Brit in the passenger seat exclaimed clapping his hands. "And not a masked man in sight, might I add."

One of her captures snorted.

"The fact that those three goons couldn't handle one 120lb woman is beyond me."

"Yeah, well, let's get her to the boss and get paid so we can get the hell out of this stinkin' city. "

Charlie was sizing up the men in the back with her when the man in the passenger seat screamed.

"Antonio, WATCH OUT!"

Charlie didn't see the masked man standing in the middle of the road or the street lamp Antonio hit. In fact, she barely remembered the crash at all. She did remember the van flipping and her being airborne for a few precious seconds before slamming into the side of the van and blacking out.

She regained consciousness to find herself being carried away from the smoking van in the arms of someone she didn't recognize. He laid her down in an alley off to the side of the crash and began to release her from her bonds. As her eyes began to regain their focus she realized her savior was the same man from the night before. Fully equipped with his confusing mask and adorable smirk.

"We have got to stop meeting like this." She croaked as he undid the gag around her mouth, his fingers lingering longer than necessary on her jawline. She tried to sit up from where he had laid her on the alley floor only to send her head spinning and a sharp pain to explode in her ribcage. She let out a groan as she felt his hands gently lay her back down.

"You probably shouldn't move, you have a concussion and several cracked ribs. Not to mention the gash on your head and the minor cuts all over your body that are bleeding like the devil."

"Ugh, I don't have time for this." Charlie grumbled thinking about the stack of bills on her and Gen's kitchen table and the new job that apparently came with bad luck.

"Tell that to your ribs." He stated as he positioned his arms around her waist and under her knees and stood up with an exaggerated grunt.

"Really. Was a grunt really necessary?" Charlie snapped but found her head leaning against his chest anyway. The world had begun to slow down but she felt like her body was going to snap in two. She felt him chuckle and it caused a pleasant rumble to take place under her head. She smiled despite herself but felt herself slipping out of consciousness yet again.

When she awoke she was in a strange room and the light was blinding. She was laying on couch in what appeared to be a rather large apartment living room. She blinked and focused her eyes on a huge glowing billboard that was visible through the windows.

"Wow. That sucks," She muttered.

"You're awake. Good." The man still wore his mask and he approached her with a glass of water in one hand and a towel in the other. "I cleaned your wounds as best as I could. If you take it easy the next couple of weeks you should heal just fine."

"Where am I? Why didn't you take me to the hospital?"

"I couldn't take you there. It wouldn't be safe. They'd find you."

"They?"

"I think that that's a conversation for a later time." He crouched down beside her and wriggled a hand under her back slowly bringing her up to a half sitting position. He handed her the glass of water then stood up and and moved to a chair on the other side of the room.

"You must have a lot of questions."

"I'd say that would be a fairly accurate assumption." Charlie took a sip of the water, feeling it slide down her scratchy throat. "Starting with how the hell do you see with that hat pulled over your eyes?"

"Next question."

"Seriously? You can skip questions. Not fair." His expression didn't change as he stared at her. Or rather, faced her, since she had no idea what his eyes were doing. "Okaaaaay. . . is this your apartment?"

"It was the only place I knew I could protect you."

Fair enough. Except for the fact that she had no idea who he was and he could turn out to be the next Zodiac killer. Judging by Charlie's recent luck it was a fair assumption.

"Why are those men chasing me?"

"I'm not completely sure, but from what I've gathered it's a long story and I'd like you to be fully rested before I explain it. You've had a rough night, you need to let it all soak in."

" What I need to do is tell my roommate where I am." She could picture Gen pacing their living room with an anxious Jabber tailing her around the room. She wasn't sure how much time had passed but it had to be much longer than it took for her to get home. Gen had probably called the police by now and was accusing them of being incompetent and useless for their lack of turning up with Charlie in hand. "Do you have a phone? Or know where mine is?"

He replied by getting up and grabbing her bag from a barstool in the kitchen and handing it to her.

"Thanks. I'm Charlie, by the way. Providing this is going to keep happening I figure you should probably know my name." She found her phone and was not surprised to see 13 missed calls from Gen and several crude text messages all along the lines of: "If you don't answer me in the next ten minutes I will personally come outside, find you, skin you alive, and then chop off all your appendages and feed them to the alligators I am certain live in the sewer."

"Are you going to tell me your name, or should I just make one up?" Charlie asked texting a reply to Gen.

"You can call me whatever you please."

Charlie looked over at him. He was standing by the window facing her, but not perfectly. He was focusing on the wrong spot of the room from where she was. Interesting.

"Well, if you say so. But you're giving me an awful lot of power. I could just call you Asshat for the rest of my days and there would be nothing you could say about it because you refused to tell me what to call you."

"With great power, comes great responsibility."

Charlie scoffed but found herself grinning.

"Fine. I'll call you. . . ." Her eyes wandered around the room. Searching for something that she could link to him and shape it into a nickname worth giving. Her eyes finally settled on a tear on his shirt that revealed a little bit of his skin underneath. "Patch. I'll call you Patch."

"Patch? What kind of name is Patch?"

"The kind of name that is given to mysterious men who refuse to offer up suitable names for a replacement." She grinned at his shrug. She had him there.

"Fine. Patch it is. Now seriously, get some sleep. We'll figure out what to do tomorrow. I'd let you sleep in my bed but I don't want to risk hurting you more by moving you."

"I'm fine, really." Charlie settled back down into the couch and put her phone back in her bag. Gen was satisfied for now when Charlie had told her she was staying with one of her new coworkers for the night for some friendly workplace 'bonding'.

Patch was already moving towards his room when Charlie called out to him.

"Patch, I just wanted to say thank you. For everything. Mostly for my life but for the other stuff too."

He looked over his shoulder and gave her that smile she had learned to love in the past 24 hours.

"It was my pleasure."


	5. Chapter 5: Foggy's Request

Charlie awoke to a pounding headache and aches all over her body. She groaned as she sat up in her bed, a fluffy cat curled up next to her.

Wait.

Her bed?

Glancing at her torso she saw it was wrapped with bandages and the major cuts on her body were covered with bandaids and wraps confirming that last night was not a dream.

What the hell?

Jabber meowed at her frantic movements and stretched dramatically before curling himself into a ball. Charlie stroked his head until she noticed the slip of fabric on her nightstand.

It was a thin fabric, worn from use and torn around the edges. A patch. Charlie snorted. So mystery man had a sense of humor after all.

Gen bursted into her room carrying a tray of assorted breakfast foods that only Gen would assemble. It consisted of two Frosted Flakes cereal bars, a slice of pizza, and a past-expired lump of mysterious fruit that vaguely resembled a banana.

"Hey, sleepyhead, want some- whoa. What kind of party did you say you went to again? " Her eyes widened as she took in Charlie's bandages. "Wait, did something happen?" She put down the tray and crouched next to where Charlie lay in bed. "Did you get ravaged by the sexy mysterious man currently sitting our living room. Can't say I'm not a bit jealous. All I did was lay on the couch with Jabber and watch reruns of The Office." Her red hair was in it's naturally curly state and as usual it complimented her green eyes perfectly. She was stunning but had a tendency to leave a trail of heartbreak wherever she went.

Charlie burst out of bed at the mention of the man but immediately regretted the sudden movement. An assortment of sharp pains broken out throughout her body. She doubled over until they calmed to a dull throb, her head still spinning. Taking a deep breath she struggled to regain her composure as she stood up straight and turned to Gen. Speaking slowly, as if she had misunderstood, she uttered a single word:

"What?"

"Yeah, I don't know. He knocked on the door at the ungodly hour of 10am asking for you. Said it was urgent. I told him I hadn't heard you come home last night and wasn't sure if you were even here but he said he was fairly positive you were and that he would wait for you to wake up." Gen shrugged. "He's definitely not what I considered your taste but hey-" She threw her hands in the air and backed out of the room slowly. "I'm not one to judge."

When Gen was gone Charlie slowly made her way over to her closet. Her shirt was shredded and she tried not to think about what Patch had seen last night when he had bandaged her up. It was Saturday, so she didn't need to worry about rushing to work, so she slipped into an oversized sweater that didn't irritate her ribs too much and a pair of black leggings. Glancing in the mirror warranted a small groan. She could go shopping with the bags under her eyes and that was only if you ignored the assorted cuts and bruises on her face and neck. Her hair was the size of Jupiter, a ball of knots and frizz. Juxtaposed to Gen, Charlie was the definition of 'hot mess '. Minus the 'hot' part of course. She struggled to run a brush in her mane before twisting it into what she hoped would pass for a bun. With her hair pulled back the bruises stood out more on her face and neck. Especially the ones near her grey eyes. Fantastic.

She slowly made her way down the hallway expecting to hear the chatter of voices but was greeted with awkward silence. When she finally reached their living room she saw Gen leaning over the kitchen counter with a mug that said "Bite Me". A heavy aroma of coffee filled the room. She was eye balling the gentleman who sat on their couch tapping his fingers nervously. Judging by the whole situation Charlie figured Gen was being about as friendly as Gen ever got. Which was to say she had tried avoiding verbally attacking their guest about opposing ideas and settled to politely glare at him from across the room. And Gen wondered why people were intimidated by her.

Charlie turned to the man and could tell immediately it wasn't Patch. His hair was too long to not show under a simple hat and he was rather soft around the middle. Not to mention he lacked facial hair where Patch had dark stubble. Still, she had not clue who he was was or why he was here.

He stood when she entered the room and extended his hand to her.

"Hello, you must be Charlie. Pleasure. The name's Foggy. Foggy Nelson."

Charlie stared at his hand for a moment before shaking it. He glanced expectantly at Gen as if he expected her to suddenly greet him with open arms now that I was here. She settled for the continuation of glaring and took a sip of coffee.

"Have you guys not already introduced yourselves?" Charlie asked, moving to sit at the kitchen table. Gen's eyes followed Foggy as he approached her, hand outstretched.

"Foggy, Gen. Gen, Foggy." Charlie twirled her hand. What the hell had Gen done while she was sleeping? Ignored him and treated him like a new piece of furniture?

On second thought, Charlie wasn't surprised.

Foggy was still standing awkwardly opposite of the counter of Gen with his hand outstretched. Gen stared at it like it was the most horrendous thing she had ever seen. Another sip of coffee.

"Gen doesn't do touching." Charlie stated nonchalantly as she reached across the table to grab a Charlie the Unicorn mug that Gen had gotten her for Christmas last year. Charlie had had an incident with a champagne cork that had nailed her between the eyes and Gen had thought it was the funniest thing; a Charlie the Unicorn for her Charlie the Unicorn. Ridiculous.

Foggy retracted his hand and wiped it on his pants awkwardly.

"Okayyy, well, Alright then. Pleasure, Gen. Mind if I sit?" He motioned to the seat across from Charlie.

"Be my guest."

Gen moved around the table and grabbed the seat next to Charlie while sipping her coffee. Her natural resting bitch face was enough to throw anyone off their game but apparently Foggy had decided to just ignore her. That's what people usually decide to go with when they encountered Gen.

"So, Charlie. I hear that you're in some trouble."

"I am?"

"You are."

Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"And where did you hear that, may I ask?"

"From our, uhh, mutual friend."

"And who might that be?"

"Gah, what are you calling him . . ." Foggy snapped his fingers and looked at the ceiling, obviously searching for a name. "Patch!" He pointed at Charlie. "I believe you refer to him as 'Patch'." He sat back in his seat and crossed his arm clearly looking very proud of himself.

Meanwhile, Gen nearly spit out her coffee. "Patch? What kind of name is Patch?!"

Foggy pointed at Charlie again. "I don't know. Ask her. She's the one who came up with it."

Gen nodded as if this was normal. "Of course she did." Foggy and her shared a knowing glance before Charlie threw up her hands.

"Okay, enough! So you've heard from Patch. Mind sharing how-" She motioned to Foggy. "-you fit into all of this?"

"Ah, yes." He handed her a business card that read:

Nelson and Murdock Law Office

And in smaller print directly below the name:

Now Accepting Clients

Walk-ins Welcome

"Why do I need the help of a law firm? Shouldn't I be contacting the police? Or mercenaries, I mean, I don't know how these things typically work."

"We kinda specialize in your, ah, situation."

"Don't you guys have more important things to attend to? Like court dates and such."

"Not particularly, no. We're running a bit short on clientele at the moment." Great, thought Charlie, nothing like a failing law firm to lend a helping hand. "But, Charlie, I can guarantee your safety should you choose to accept our aid."

"And how are going to do that? How can you guarantee my safety? No offense, but you don't really look like the type of guy who can stand a chance against the people who are after me. I've seen them in action. I know what they're capable of. I'm not exactly defenseless myself and I can't make a dent against them. This isn't just some random attack, these men are trained. They are on a mission to capture me and I'm not sure anyone can 'guarantee' my safety. Not even Patch."

Foggy stared at her. Even Gen seemed a bit taken aback by her outburst. Charlie knew that Gen took it upon herself to watch over her, looking at Charlie like more of a ward than anything else. Nevermind that they were the same age and had been best friends for most of their life, Gen was always the one to beat up the bullies who chased her and dry her tears afterward. Gen had never used her harsh attitude towards her and Charlie could see her frustration at her inability to help with the situation at all. Gen hated the feeling of being useless. Probably why she was so damn controlling all the time.

"Look, why don't you come to my office. Meet my partner, take a look around, and have a moment to talk to us about everything. We can share what we know about your situation and discuss our opinions on how to deal with it. If, after all that, you're still unsure, then we'll back off and give you some time. Give us a chance, Miss Evedyn."

Charlie took a sip of her coffee and thought about it for a moment. The second attack had left her exhausted, both physically and mentally. She wasn't sure she could escape a third time. Definitely not on her own and probably not even with Patch's help. Her hunters would be anticipating his interference this time around and that was only if he chose to interfere. He could feel that his job was done now that he had alerted this firm to her predicament. This, Nelson and Murdock thingamabob may be her only chance. Not to mention the danger this whole situation put Gen in by association. And Jabber, of course.

"Fine. I'll go with you to your office. On one condition."

"Anything."

"Gen comes too."

Foggy smiled.

"Of course, why would we want to leave behind this cloud of sunshine."


End file.
